I am hitting a brick wall with Virgin Media. I organised the broadband and TV service for a shared house in Norwich. When I was leaving last summer I was told by Virgin how to transfer the service to the remaining tenants.

Unbeknown to me, this incurred a charge of £48 as it involved terminating the old contract and starting a new one. When I queried this I was told that I had been misinformed and that there was an alternative which would not have resulted in a charge.

They offered to look into the matter. Either way, there was no loss of income for Virgin Media as the service was simply transferred. I heard nothing, then received a further demand. I wrote again – still nothing. Five months later I received a forwarded "notice of intention to commence debt collection action" from an agency.

I have asked Virgin Media to reconsider and advised the agency of this. I have no confidence that it will respond. I am unemployed (now on an unpaid internship in Europe) and cannot afford what I think is an unfair charge. JL,c/o Peterborough, Cambs

Virgin Media said it understood you called to cancel on 1 August and the service was disconnected immediately. A new account was set up at the address the same day. Both parties can also simply sign to transfer the responsibility. The final bill was sent to the address on the account, but you had already moved and supplied no forwarding address.

Virgin Media has now waived the outstanding balance. You were given duff advice, but remember to always leave some kind of forwarding address so loose ends can be tied up.

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